Reality Hits Hard
by stride.for.victory
Summary: A requested Time Warp Trio fanfiction. Open chapter one for more information. :) Point of view varies. I own nothing.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello fellow fans of Time Warp Trio! Glad you found this story!_

 _The following fanfiction was requested by Writer25. With her permission, I incorporated her OC Fina. Check out her page and tumblr account (turchinorain) for more deets. :)_

 _ **Disclaimer**_ _: I do not own anything. Enjoy!_

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 _-Samantha's POV-_

One day while casually flipping through The Book-Jodie had let me borrow it for another time-trip to Rome-I stumbled upon the sports, namely the baseball section of it. Fred immediately came to mind; anyone who even remotely knew Fred knew he was gaga for baseball. Well, anyone excluding one particular person.

I jumped off my bed and got Sam's pocket watch from my desk drawer, then dialed myself to a random destination in 2015. I ended up in New York City, somewhere along Madison Avenue which was ideal; the public library was just a few blocks down. I made my way over to it through the crowds of people, and once inside, seated myself at a computer. It was a shame the library still had boxy IBM computers; it felt so foreign using one, but I managed to search the game I had in mind and buy three tickets; I knew Fred would want to see the Red Sox and the Yankees face off. I bouguht one ticket for him and I, and the third for whoever wanted to tag along.

I printed out the tickets, then went into the nearest bathroom and warped again, this time specifically to Fred's bedroom, 2009. I always double checked the year I warped to; the one time it was incorrect, I warped into an 8-year-old Joe's bedroom at the age of 14. One word: awkward.

Anyhow, I landed on the top bunk of Fred's bunkbed and scanned the room for him, but he was no where in sight. Since I had visited his room before after being force-warped to it by Mad Jack-don't ask, it's a different story-I knew his cell phone was in his desk drawer. Fred had upgraded from the prehistoric flip-phone of a thing to a 3rd Generation iPhone, but the device was still fairly ancient to me. Regardless, I searched for Sam's contact and called him.

"Hello?" he answered, quite confused.

"It's me, Sam. You happen to know where Fred is?" I asked.

"Oh, Samantha! I was like, how the heck could Fred's phone-" he began, realizing who was on the other end of the line. I rolled my eyes playfully. "Uh, yeah he's over at my house. We're having a study session for our Monday test." Sam then told me.

"Alright, cool. I'll be over in a sec."

"Okay, but can I know what for?"

"Just a quick question. I'll be in and out." I told him, then hung up the phone before he could reply.

I put the phone back in Fred's desk and pulled out the time-watch again. "Sam's bedroom; Sam cubiculum!" I chanted in Latin as the purple warp-bubble enveloped me. As expected, I landed on Sam's bed. "Hey guys!" I greeted Sam and Fred as I straightened up. Then I noticed another person in the room. "And Fina. Sorry, I didn't notice you right away." I admitted with a chuckle. Her hair covered most of her face and she sat near the corner of Sam's room, by his bookshelf.

"It's okay." she told me, her voice an airy whisper.

"Fina, it's alright. Samantha's kind, you know her." Sam told her gently. What he said was was true, Fred, Fina and I had hung out at various places in time, none of them too action packed however-Fina would easily suffer from a heart attack-so her and I were fairy accustomed to each other.

"Sorry. I just got startled when you warped in." She crawled out from the corner back over to the boys as she told me.

"Nah, don't stress." I limp-wristed. "So what are you guys studying?" I then asked, scanning the papers spread about the floor.

Fred groaned before he said, "The history of the Middle East, about Mesopotamia and junk. Global class is seriously the worst."

"If it's such a bad class, how are you getting 90's on everything?" Sam asked.

My eyes went wide. "Wowh, taking school more seriously now, are we?"

"Eh, not really." he laughed in response. "And Sam, I never said that class was hard, it's just mad boring. Our teacher sucks!"

"Yeah that's true." he agreed.

"We have one of those mono-tone lecturers." Fina then told me.

"Oh boy, what a riot." I said sarcastically as I twirled my finger in the air. I shifted my position then and laid on my stomach, a hand supporting my head.

"Yeah...but boring teachers aside, what did ya come to ask about, Sammy?" Fred then asked me.

I gave him a look. "I've told you numerous times not to call me that." He snickered. I continued, answering his question in an aloof manner. "And oh, nothing important. I was just looking through The Book in my room, and I stumbled upon a section about baseball, and then warped to 2015 and..." I pulled the form I printed out from the library and held it up as I ended, "bought a set of three tickets for a Red Sox vs Yankees game."

Fred grabbed the paper from my hand. "No way!" he gasped. Fina leaned and looked over his shoulder as well. I raised a brow.

"Wait...you're into baseball?" she then asked him.

"Into it? Pff, I basically live it! I'm only on the school's football team to keep in shape and what not. Sure it makes me a popular jock-"

"We all know you're attractive, Fred." Sam grumbled as he looked to the side.

"Good." Fred winked in response and raised his head high. "So like I was saying," he turned back to Fina. "Football is really just like a side-sport for me. I've loved baseball since I was a kid!"

"No way!" Fina exclaimed with a blush.

"Yes way!" He then turned back to me and said as he handed me the tickets, "And Samantha, I can't believe you actually got box-seats for this game." His eyes gleamed at me in thanks and awe.

"Ah, I figured 'why not?'" I simply stated, folding the paper back into my pocket.

Fred then went over to his backpack and pulled out a rustic baseball.

"Uh, why do you carry a baseball around in your backpack?" I asked.

"In case I need to pop someone in the head." he replied plainly, then laughed. "Nah it's for practice; a few buds and I play after school here and there. I wanted to prove to Fina my love for baseball." He threw her a wink, and Sam snorted. "I'm shooting for varsity this coming spring season, and for team captain." he informed us confidently, tossing the baseball in the air and back into his hand.

Sam and I glanced at each other and burst out laughing. "Don't flatter yourself, Fred." Sam advised through breaths. I wiped a falling tear from my eye.

Once we settled down, Fina told him, "Well, I think you'll make it and get the position, Fred."

Fred turned to her and brought her under his arm and thanked her. "At least someone has faith in me."

I rolled my eyes over to Sam and we shared the same unimpressed look. Fina shielded her face with her hair and smiled appreciatively, looking at Fred from the corner of her eye. I frowned at her.

She then seemed to remember something as she sprung up from under Fred's arm, her face bright with expression. "Oh! I have to show you something at my house, come on!" She got up from the floor and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room. Sam and I glanced at one another in confusion before he asked, "Uh, what about the study session?"

"We'll get back to it soon, Sam!" Fred replied from down the hall. The slam of the door echoed briefly throughout the house. Sam's mom yelled for them to hush up, as she was working in her office. "Sorry mom! Fred just left the house!" he told her.

I snorted, shaking my head.

"So what do you think of Fina?" he then asked.

I shrugged. "Eh, she's cool. I mean I've only hung out with her a few times, and she doesn't really talk much, but she doesn't seem like bad news or anything."

"Yeah, she's pretty hush up, but that may be because of her home life. She doesn't want to admit anything private, given it come up in conversation."

"Oh, I see. Well, everyone has their secrets and what not." I knew had my own.

"True. Hey, since god knows when Fred will be back, you think you could help me study?" Sam asked.

"Sure thing. It's not like you need to, though." I laughed, and he admitted I was right, "but better to be safe than sorry." he added.

Throughout the study session, Fred and Fina kept drifting into mind. The more those two hung out, the more Fred seemed drawn to Fina, and vice versa. It shouldn't have bothered me that they went off together, but it did. Fred and I knew each other for 4 years since 2105, since the day Jodie brought him and the others to her apartment. Fina only knew him since freshman year this year, and he was already drawn to her. I know I shouldn't think this way about Fred; we would, unfortunately, never be able to be more than friends...but a piece of me felt at home with him.

I tried to shake them from my mind as I continued quizzing Sam for the test.

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 _Next chapter to come soon! Please review. :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_-Fred's POV-_

Fina dragged me by my arm until people on the sidewalk started giving her strange looks. She then let me trail behind her unlatched until we reached her house.

It was entertaining seeing Fina so hyped up, since it wasn't a regular occurrence. If I were merely a foot from her, she'd whip around and tug at my shirt for me to "hurry up," her wispy hair flying around her face, and her eyes gleaming merrily at me. It was a sight to see.

At the foot of her apartment's stairs, she took my hand and pulled me up; she lived in was similar to that of Joe's. "Since you've never been: my family and I live on the first two floors. Another family lives on the very top."

"Oh cool." I awed. The place looked so tidy and well-kept. You could practically eat off the floor!

"My stepdad is working his sift at the supermarket right now, but, unfortunately, his girlfriend Sierra is home...she doesn't have a job." She rolled her eyes at the mention of Sierra.

"What's the matter with her?"

"She's just a terrible person. I'll tell you more later; for now, keep quiet and ignore anything she tells you." Fina told me in a hush. I did as I was told.

As we rounded the corner, Sierra was sitting on the living room couch close to the front door, a beer in her fist. She turned to us and watched us go up the stairs with a suspicious expression. "Use protection, motherfuckers!" she called out. I blushed and Fina hung and shook her head. I doubted that was what she brought me to her house for, but I've been told to never doubt anyone.

"Like I said: ignore her." Fina grumbled shyly. When we reached the top floor, she lit up again. Turning to me, she said, "Okay, this room behind me is like my most prized possession, and I only let certain people in to see it." As she spoke, she crept backwards to a white wooden door. The light of the setting sun seeped into the house and reflected off of the hardwood floors, making her glow; 'Stunning,' I thought to myself. She opened the door slowly and looked at me over her shoulder, then asked, "You ready, Freddy?"

"The anticipation is _killing_ me, Fina." I admitted.

She finally swung the door open and stepped into the middle of the office-sized room. "Ta-da!"

I walked in slowly in awe. The walls were the same white as the door, but were patched with photographs of all sorts of sports players: Tim Duncan, Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, Lance Armstrong...the list could go on for a half hour. Posters of the New York Yankees and Mets and Bisons were pasted on the walls as well. A glass cabinet housed sports related things as well: issue after issue of the Sports Illustrated magazine...baseball cards were lined up deck after deck...tickets were lined up in threes and put in a frame...this place was really something.

"So what do you think?" Fina then asked me.

"What do I-? Dude this place is amazing! How did you get all those pictures?" I gestured to the Wall of Sport-Fame.

"My mother took them; she was a photographer for Sports Illustrated for nearly 10 years. Hence the pile of magazines in the cabinet. She got to meet all these people," she gestured to the wall as I had before. "And she saved every picture she took of them. They're in a box in her bedroom."

"Wowh, sweet! Dang, that lucky duck. Do you mind if I ask what happened to her? Because, Sierra isn't- she's not your mom, right?"

"No, my stepdad's girlfriend..." Fina mumbled, then seemed hesitant to answer my question, but she eventually did. "My mom passed away a few years back... I don't like to talk about it."

"That's completely fine," I was surprised she told me that much. "I understand. I'm really sorry to hear, Fina." Her hair fell back over her face, and I reached my arm out and slid it over her shoulders. "I wish I could help."

She quickly shifted the mood of the situation, on a dime. Slowly lifting her head back up, she told me, "Just you being here helps enough," with a smile. I smiled back and blushed lightly.

She then whipped around and looked behind the glass cabinet. Putting her hair behind her ears, she said, "Oh! And over here is my personal collection of photography." A small section of the wall next to the cabinet was patched with pictures of school sports players, a few that I was able to recognize.

"Wait, are _you_ the one who takes the pictures of the school's sports players?"

"Well, not exactly. Newspaper Club does that. I want to be a photographer for them sooner or later, though. I'm currently taking a photography class and am the photographer for Yearbook Club, but I manage to catch a few stills of the fielders when the club or my teacher assigns me a shoot." She held her head high as she told me.

"Oh, I see. Sneaky girl." I nodded in understanding, then winked at her. "But all seriousness, these are really good pictures." I leaned in closer to see them in better detail. "You caught like, their motion, Iike when they were in the middle of catching a ball and stuff."

"Yeah, that's what I stride to do. It's pretty challenging though; I take on average like 50 pictures before I find the best one to print and frame." Fina admitted.

"Oh wow." I replied in awe again.

"I just love to capture the moment of a situation, so the time it takes to get the right picture is time well spent."

I turned to her and said with my eyes low, "Looks like we've got a hard worker on our hands."

She blushed and shoved me lightly. "Stop~."

Making Fina blush and laugh gave me the best feeling, right after hitting a home run, of course, but it still made me feel fuzzy on the inside. "You think you could sneak over and catch a few pics of me at football practice one day?" I stepped a bit closer to her.

She giggled and tapped her chin. "Mm, possibly. If I feel like it." she told me slyly.

"Alright, done deal." I laughed, then changed the subject; I felt myself getting a bit worked up. "So what's your favorite sports team?"

"Well, I'm really just into baseball since my father and mother were, so I'd have to say my favorite team, baseball wise, would be the NY Yankees."

I held my hands up in a "hold up" manner. "No freaking way~." I dragged in disbelief.

"Yes way." She nudged me, mimicking the way I said the words earlier. "That's why I got so hyped when Samantha pulled out those tickets! _And_ she got box-seats! Just imagine the pictures I could take from seats like that!" She hopped up and down about the room, ecstatic; I grinned like an idiot as I watched her. She was already beautiful to begin with, with those sky-blue eyes of her's and that golden blonde hair, and now she liked the same baseball team as me? Things couldn't get any better.

An idea then came to mind. "Hey, wait. Why not ask Samantha if you can have the third ticket?"

Fina stopped jumping when I asked the question and gasped. "You think she'd let me?"

"Sure, why not?" I pulled out my phone from my back pocket and texted Sam. "I'll ask Sam to ask her right now."

 _-Sam's POV-_

My Global History teacher had given the class a 40 paged study packet, and assigned us 25 unit flash cards write out and study; Samantha and I had gone through everything nearly three times already within the last half hour.

"See Sam, I told you there was no need for you to study." Samantha retorted with a laugh.

"Eh, like I said, better safe than sorry. This test is like, an end-of-the-quarter test. It has 4 units of information on it and counts for 55% of our 1st quarter grade!"

"Dang!" she said in legitimate shock. "Are they so hard on you guys because of Common Core?"

"Unfortunately." I grumbled and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, we read about it in our history text books. It's stated to be one of the worst mistakes made by the US government." she cackled.

"I'm not one bit surprised. I mean, everyone knows people learn in different ways, so Common Core is basically a contradiction to learning. It's a system that's supposed to help students learn more efficiently by teaching them all the same material the same way, but it does the exact opposite." I shook my head in frustration.

"It's because of the US' global education rank. You guys are off the list of the top 20 best-educated counties at this point." Samantha informed me.

"Great, just great! Do you have any idea what that does to our stability as a nation?!" I exclaimed, outraged.

"Yes, I'm aware, Sam." she laughed.

"It's because of people like Fred who neglect their school work... Although, he has begun to shape up, surprisingly."

Just then my phone buzzed, telling me I received a text message. It read: **Ask Samantha this, "Is it cool if Fina comes along with us to the baseball game?"**

Rather than repeating Fred's text, I handed my phone to Samantha and said, "It's for you." She scanned the text over and then became thoughtful, biting her lip, but only for a moment. Regardless, I knew that whenever Samantha bit her lip, it meant she was either nervous or disappointed about something.

"Can I reply back?" she asked, holding up my phone.

"Yeah, sure." After she sent the text, I scanned over its contents. It simply said: **Yeah, it's fine. -Samantha.** Samantha and I emailed each other frequently and she usually replied with long messages, so when I saw that, I knew for certain something was up. I asked, "Are you alright? I saw you biting your lip when you read the text."

 _-Samantha's POV-_

'Way to put me on the spot, Sam.' I thought to myself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why would you think otherwise?" I played off.

"Samantha, I'm your great-grandfather; I know you pretty well. When you bite your lip, it usually means that you're nervous or disappointed about something, so~."

There was no point in lying to Sam. I knew he could keep his mouth shut if I asked him too. I sighed and began, "It's Fina. Like I said earlier, I don't have anything against her but...I don't like how she's attached to Fred's hip all the time." I looked to the side as I told him. I felt more embarrassed than upset.

"But...they actually don't hang out too often, _and_ they don't have any classes together either."

"Arg..." I grumbled, conflicted. "I just- don't know..."

Sam then reassured me, his hand on my shoulder. "Samantha, you know you can tell me anything."

"Promise you won't say anything to either of them?" I asked. He crossed his heart. I rubbed my arm and blushed as I told him, "I kind of...like, Fred."

There was a pang of stiff silence that lasted much too long, and I began to bite my lip again, this time continuously. I looked up at Sam after a while and saw his shocked expression. "Wait like, as more than a friend?" he asked.

"A little...but it doesn't matter. There's no way we could ever be anything more than friends either way because of the time gap between us, so." I shrugged, bringing my legs close to me.

"That is true..." Sam said to himself, a hand on his chin.

Not wanting to stay on the topic, I said, "It's alright, Sam, really. Let's just continue studying." I grinned, picking up the thick packet again.

"But wait..." He hesitated to tell me more.

"What is it, Sam?" I pressed.

"Maybe you should tell him; you could feel better afterwards. Who knows, he may even-"

I cut him off. I knew his next words. "And that's exactly what I'm afraid of!" Sam was taken back by my outburst, but I continued on. "He _can't_ have feelings for me, if he has them now or not... Just forget it. Don't ever tell him or anyone what I told you, Sam." Tense eyes looked back at mine when I told him to keep quiet. "Swear you won't, Sam."

"Alright." he agreed, but I felt bad for putting needless pressure on him; he didn't need that.

I sighed and said, "Alright, you can tell Joe, but make sure he doesn't tell Fred. Under any circumstances, Fred cannot know I- have feelings for him."

"Okay. I'll make sure he doesn't if I do end up telling him." Sam replied.

"Alright... So, like I said, it's alright. I'll be fine. I'll get over him eventually." I told him. He nodded in an understanding manner, but in a way that also made him seem doubtful.

I felt a pinching in my chest and a tightness in my throat, but I continued quizzing him regardless.

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 _Thank you for reading! Please review! One more chapter left._


	3. Chapter 3

_-Fred's POV-_

"She said yes!" I called out after reading Sam's reply message. Fina jumped up and squealed. "My gosh, this isn't happening!" she exclaimed as she shook her hands in disbelief.

"Believe it, it's happening!" I said, then lifted her into an embrace up off the floor. She was shocked I had done so, but only momentarily. The wide smile she had on a second ago returned back to her face, and she wrapped her arms around my neck and shoulders. I loved the feel of her warm, delicate body next to mine, even if it was for a moment.

She asked me to put her down, her cheeks as red as a reddest strawberry I'd ever seen, so I did as I was told after some hesitation. "This is going to be great! We're going to have a great time at this game, you just wait." I laughed.

"I'm not doubting you for a second." Fina laughed back. She swept her hair out of her face again and brought herself back into the room before she asked, "So, lunch?"

"Of course! What do ya have?" I said as I followed her out of the room. She closed the door to her "prized possession" before she continued down to the kitchen. "There's leftover corned beef and cabbage from yesterday. I prepared it and slow cooked it myself." she told me as we walked down the stairs. I began to drool just as the sound of it.

"Wowh, sounds like my kinda meal." I told her with anticipation.

"I would think so. You _are_ Irish after all, right?" Fina asked, knowing the answer to her question already.

"As Irish as I'll ever be." I laughed.

She pulled out the slow cooker pot from the fridge, and then two plates. As she forked the food onto the plates, she said, "I hope it's still good served without potatoes; we ran out at dinner yesterday." and shrugged apologetically as she did.

"Yeah, it's fine. Potatoes aren't everything." I limp-wristed.

"Okay, good." Fina laughed as she placed one plate after the other into the microwave. Her smiles made her face light up in the best way; I admired them all I could.

When my plate was ready, I waited for Fina's to be done so we could eat together. But I can assure you: it was one of the most challenging things I ever had to endure in my life. The beef smelled so sweet and savory at the same time, and the cabbage, tangy; I bet the food tasted twice as good as they smelled. I had to keep my mouth closed to prevent drool from dripping out.

When her food was finally heated, we sat down, and I dug into my plate, unable to contain myself. I heard myself moan at the burst of succulent flavor that hit my taste buds, and kicked myself mentally for doing so. I then said, "Fina, oh my god... This is _so_ freaking good!"

She laughed, "Thanks. I've had a lot of practice, so I'd be disappointed if it weren't good. I cook dinner every night my stepdad doesn't order take-out."

"Don't flatter yourself, whore!" Sierra then called from the living room, laughing nastily afterwards. Fina immediately frowned and hung her head.

"What the hell was that about?" I asked myself out loud, looking over my shoulder, slightly frustrated. I then turned to Fina. "Hey, don't listen to her. She's just jealous, you know that." I told her with a smile as I brought her face up with my hand. She blushed and thanked me shyly. "Really Fina, I mean it." I reiterated. "You're so talented and hard working, and you've come so far regardless of everything you've been through. You're really something. Never forget that." She looked as though she were about to cry, but I knew it would be out of joy. I was still slightly shocked on the inside at her glistening eyes; I didn't know I could make a girl feel so strongly about something I said. I blushed and smiled at her warm expression.

In all honesty, I wanted to come around from my end of the table to her's, take her hands, and ask her to be mine...but then my phone buzzed and brought me out of my thoughts. I opened the text and it read: **Are you guys coming back to the study session anytime soon? It's been 2 hours, Fred.** I looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall in disbelief. Had two hours gone by already?

"Who texted you?" Fina asked.

"Sam. He wants us to come back over for the study session." I replied.

"Oh right," she said with a hand on her head. "We should probably head back over." I agreed, and we practically inhaled the rest of last night's leftovers. I still enjoyed every bite, and I let Fina know.

When we arrived back at Sam's, he grumbled about us wasting precious time "goofing off" when it could have been spent studying my for our massive Monday test.

"Relax, Sam. We'll do fine with you on our side." I laughed. I then realized, "Hey, where'd Samantha go?"

"She left back to 2109. She got tired of waiting for you guys to get back." he told us as he shuffled the flashcards, still a bit upset.

"Oh...that sucks. We only got to see like, 5 minutes of her." I said to Fina. She shrugged in response, looking a bit down about her departure as well. I felt bad for leaving her with Sam, in a way...

•

 _-Sam's POV-_

The big "Monday test" had come and gone, and Fred, thanks to additional study sessions held on Saturday and Sunday-the last one we had was on Friday, when Samantha came to visit-ended up getting a 88 on it. He cheered at the top of his lungs and gave me a wet kiss on my cheek after class when the tests were handed back. I shivered in disgust.

A couple weeks later, Samantha emailed me about the baseball game she bought tickets for, saying she allowed Freddie to have her ticket for a US history project about "the history of baseball." I gave her email a twisted look of disbelief, and replied with: **Are you sure you're not lying because you just don't want to be around Fred and Fina?** She replied an hour later, which was quite long considering the time-emailing system only took a matter of seconds to send and deliver messages, and said: **Just tell Fred when you get the chance.** , dodging my question. But it was alright; I knew the answer anyhow.

I came into school the following day nervous as ever. I felt guilty in a way about keeping Samantha's secret from Fred, but I knew it was for the better; still, it continued nagging at me. In between classes, I asked Fred to go to the library with me during our lunch period.

"Like, after we _eat_ lunch and stuff?" he made sure.

"Yeah," I replied, the nervous feeling still in my throat. But Fred didn't notice; he was in too good of a mood to. Him and Fina had been on particularly good terms ever since she had taken him to her house. They swapped phone numbers a few days later, and Fred talked about her too Joe and I on a daily basis. These factors only made telling Fred what Samantha asked me too that much more difficult.

"Alright, will do. Now if you'll excuse, me I have to make it to my class at the other end of the building." he told me with a laugh before he dashed off. I turned on my heel and went to my next class with a frown.

Our lunch period finally came around. Fred told me, on the lunch line, that Joe stayed with his Spanish teacher for extra help, "so he won't be coming to lunch until way later."

"Oh, okay." I said, then rubbed the back of my neck. I really wanted Joe's company to help change the subject after I had spilled the information.

"So what do you want to go to the library for? Don't tell me we have another research project to do for Global..." he grumbled.

"No, it's not for that. I just need to tell you something in private." I informed him.

"Oh..." Fred then became silently thoughtful for a moment, wondering what it was I wanted to tell him. There was no way he could have guessed what in a million years... "Wait, don't we need a pass to go to the library? Like, a _special_ pass _from_ the library?"

I thought about what he said, then face-palmed. "Arg, you're right." How could I have been so stupid?

"It's cool, man, you can just tell me at the table. No one really sits with us other than Joe and he's not here, so." Fred shrugged. I nodded in agreement.

Back at our lunch table, I took small sips of my chocolate milk and nibbled at my pizza, organizing my thoughts. I took a breath before I began, "So, you know how Samantha time-emails me, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, I still don't understand how it works and I probably never will but, yeah." he chuckled as he told me with a mouthful of pizza.

"Okay so, she emailed me about the game, you know the game she warped to tell us about a few weeks back?" I looked up at him from my tray.

"Yeah," Fred said, looking back at me as he slowed his chewing. "What about it?" He looked at me square in the eyes now, but not so as to intimidate me. However, it didn't make saying my next words any easier.

"She told me to tell you she gave Freddie her ticket, since she has a history project about baseball to work on." I hated lying.

Fred paused his chewing momentarily and looked to the side. "She couldn't tell me that herself?" he asked, looking back at me.

I made something up quick. "She didn't feel it was that important." I shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Fred took another bite of his pizza and chewed it some before he spoke again. "Well, that's okay." he shrugged. "Freddie, Fina and I will look like triplets, since we all have the same hair and eye color. It'll still be fun." he cheered.

I laughed, "Yeah, true." slight relieved he had actually believed my words.

•

In order to cover the lie, Samantha arranged with Freddie to take Fred and Fina to the baseball game in 2015, and she pretend to take notes for her "project." Samantha warped into my room one day, a week or so after she asked me to relay her message to Fred, and told me so herself. She asked me if I ever told Fred she liked him. I told her I didn't. "I never break a promise after I swear on it." I reiterated. She smiled broadly at me, then looked to the side, contorted her face in sadness, and cried on my shoulder. I held her tightly and rubbed her back.

Months later she warped back into my room, simple to catch up on things, and I was glad she did. I asked how she was doing, and she sincerely told me she was doing well. She was getting straight A's thus far in her freshman year of high school, mind you taking all honors classes, "and...I even met someone." She blushed when she told me. I was more than happy for her.

All in all, it did take months for Samantha to accept the reality of things, and let go of her first real, almost-romantic interest, but she got through it and came out a better person; I congratulate her for that.

 **The End**

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 _Thank you for reading! Please review and let me know what you thought of the story. :3_


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